Garden News

In January, the very coldest part of winter, it’s hard to think of a time when the sun will shine and new plants—including garden veggies —will grow. But that’s a time Jacqui Sakowski, a retired small business owner, looks forward to all year round. What might be most unique about Jacqui’s gardening is what she does with what its produces: Jacqui donates it to local food pantries like MOM.

In partnership with Fairshare CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Coalition, and funded in part by the Endres Foundation, MOM will pilot a unique CSA project this growing season. Our combined efforts will allow us to serve 25 MOM clients weekly throughout the growing season with fresh, healthy, CSA produce at no cost to them. This unique model not only allows MOM to increase distribution of healthy, nutritious produce, it also supports our local farmers. We hope to expand this model in future years

In this entry in her garden journal dated May 27, Jacqui Sakowski shares some experiences growing fresh veggies for MOM's food pantry. After retiring as a small business owner, Jacqui dived into gardening, a passion she developed when she moved to the Midwest from England years ago. Recognizing she could grow more than she could ever eat, Jacqui decided to garden with a new purpose: to provide fresh vegetables to those who struggled with hunger.

In this entry in her garden journal dated June 12, Jacqui Sakowski shares some experiences growing fresh veggies for MOM's food pantry. After retiring as a small business owner, Jacqui dived into gardening, a passion she developed when she moved to the Midwest from England years ago. Recognizing she could grow more than she could ever eat, Jacqui decided to garden with a new purpose: to provide fresh vegetables to those who struggled with hunger.

Heather has fond memories of gardening with her mother as a little girl—particularly of the fabulous, fresh veggies she got to eat when their work was drawing to a close. Recently, Heather decided to take advantage of MOM’s Food Pantry Gardens to recreate the gardening experience for her sons. The gardens helped the family enjoy freshly grown peas and other healthy vegetables to eat. It also offered them the promise of community and a path to a better life.

You can End Hunger.

MOM distributes nearly 1.4 million pounds of food every year to people in our community. MOM's Food Pantry allows individuals and families to self select food and personal hygiene items and to come as often as they need. You can help make sure people in our community are food secure.

Becoming a monthly supporter is an easy way to make a powerful and long-lasting impact in our community. Your recurring contributions add up over time, and help provide weeks, months and years of important assistance and resources to those in need.

Research continues to confirm the importance of good nutrition for children. In fact, according to Too Small to Fail, the first two years may be the most important. But the effects of good nutrition began even earlier: they begin in-utero. Even as we understand more about the importance of early nutrition though, we are still faced with the staggering fact that more than 17 million children in the US live in households struggling to put food on the table.

This past December, Professor Philip Alston, United Nations Special Rapporteur, spent two weeks observing extreme poverty in the US. His visit comes as drastic shifts in US poverty policy are taking place because of cuts in welfare programs and changes in tax laws. Dr. Alston concludes: “The United States is one of the world’s richest, most powerful and technologically innovative countries; but neither its wealth nor its power nor its technology is being harnessed to address the situation in which 40 million people continue to live in poverty.”

In this Insights with Dick Goldberg podcast, Dick takes a big-picture look at US Poverty Programs. To do this, he talks with Dr. Tim Smeeding, director of the University of Wisconsin’s Institute for Research on Poverty from 2008-2014 and the Lee Rainwater Distinguished Professor of Public Affairs and Economics. Tim provides an overview of US poverty programs, discusses some challenges they face and provides suggestions for improvements in the future.

"According to a recent report from the USDA, an increasing share of individuals who receive benefits through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program, also known as food stamps, live in households where at least one person is working. Nearly 32 percent of SNAP households are home to at least one wage-earner, according to the most recent data on the program, compared to only 19.6 percent in 1989, as far back as USDA data is available."